


"I love you" in Toph Talk

by FamiliarBoomerang (ThisIsTheDungeonThatNeverEnds)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Betaed, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Toph Beifong Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27931099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsTheDungeonThatNeverEnds/pseuds/FamiliarBoomerang
Summary: Toph takes Sokka to a very unhappy place for a very happy reunion.  Not tagged as ship but can easily be read as budding Tokka.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Sokka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	"I love you" in Toph Talk

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for and beta read by my amazing giant nerd of a spouse creature.

The ground beneath Toph and Sokka's feet was dry and barren. Even almost two years after Phoenix King Ozai had harnessed the power of Sozen's Comet with the intent if burning half the world, the Southwestern coast of the Wulong Forest was devoid of life and smelled faintly of charred wood.

The two friends tread carefully along the shoreline, solemn and silent. Had it been so long ago that they truly believed that they would die here as they gripped each other’s hands on the edge of a Fire Nation air ship?

Toph felt Sokka’s heartbeat quicken. “You okay, Boomerang Boy?”

Sokka sighed. “Yeah,” he answered quietly. “Just…memories. I don’t like this place, Toph. Just tell me why we’re here?”

“Not yet. Give me a little while longer.”

Sokka groaned. “We wouldn’t happen to have any-"

“I can feel AND hear your stomach growling, Sokka. No, I don’t have the food. It’s all in Appa's saddle bag.”

“Of course it is.”

The two carried on in silence save for the occasional bird call overhead and the gentle lapping of the waves against the blackened rocks.

“It was nice of Aang to let us borrow Appa,” Sokka said after a while.

“Yep, Twinkle Toes is too generous for his own good sometimes. He really-" Toph stopped abruptly and gasped. “I THINK I FOUND IT!” she exclaimed.

“Found what?” Sokka asked, bewildered and confused.

Toph didn’t answer. She dug her heels into the ashy sand and stood perfectly still, barely even breathing.

“Toph, what are you-"

“Shush!”

Several tense, wordless minutes passed before Sokka whispered, “Toph, what’s wrong?”

Toph stomped her foot. “I’m having trouble seeing through all this silt. I need to get closer. Give me your hand.”

Toph held out her hand and Sokka, although he was still confused and beginning to get frustrated with Toph’s nondisclosure, took it without hesitation.

The young earth bender led Sokka out into the water until she was up to her waist. Still grasping Sokka’s hand for balance, she let her feet sink into the lose ground until her ankles were buried.

Another minute passed before a wide smile slowly crept onto Toph’s face.

“Okay, that look means you’re up to something,” Sokka said.

Once again, Toph didn’t answer. She rushed back to dry land, pulling Sokka behind her. When Toph jerked him forward, Sokka lost his balance, caught his foot on a rock, and splashed face first into the water. He came up sputtering and coughing.

“Watch where you’re dragging me, woman!”

Toph laughed. “Excuse me, but which one of us is blind?”

“Whatever you found out in that water better be worth all this,” Sokka grumbled.

“Trust me, Mr. Meat-and-sarcasm, you’ll thank me when we’re done here.”

Once back on dry land, Toph released Sokka’s hand and cracked her knuckles. “Stand back, Sokka. Prepare to be amazed.”

Sokka took several large steps back as requested. Once Toph judged that Sokka was far enough back, she smirked, positioned herself in a horse stance, and punched toward the ground. A trail of raised earth shot forward from Toph into the ocean. The water bubbled and the earth rumbled. Then something, Sokka couldn’t tell what it was at first, flew out of the water a hundred yard away. Toph reached out toward whatever it was and pulled her hand back, bringing the object hurdling straight at Sokka.

Sokka yelled and ducked down, just in time for Toph’s find to impale a driftwood log behind him.

“ARE YOU **TRYING** TO KILL ME!”

Toph shrugged and smiled smugly. “Don’t you want to turn around and look at what I found for you?”

Sokka turned, but still continued ranting. “So after all that you STILL won’t say whaaaaa…”

Sokka let his sentence trail off the instant he laid eyes on it.

Due to either Ozai's fire, over a year under water, or a combination of the two, there was barely anything left if the hilt. 

But the blade.

The blade, dark steely gray with an almost blueish sheen in the sunlight, was as brilliant and perfect as the day it was forged.

“M-my…”

“Yup,” Toph said, still smiling.

“SPACE SWORD!”

Sokka knelt next to the log and gently fan his fingers along the broad side of the sword, his eyes and mouth open in wonder and disbelief.

“I’m dreaming, right? I have to be dreaming.”

“If Appa starts talking in haiku I’ll let you know. Until then, I think it’s safe to assume it’s real.”

Sokka stood up and wiped away a tear that had made it’s way down his cheek. “Toph, I…I don’t even know how to express how much this means to me.”

“It’s the least I could do after all you did for the metal bending school.”

“Well then the MOST you could do probably really would kill me.”

“Come here, Dummy,” Toph said with her arms outstretched. Before Sokka could come in for the hug he thought Toph was offering, she balled up her fist and punched him in his bicep.

“OUCH!”

“Oh, stop whining. You know that means ‘I love you’ in Toph talk.”

“Well, THIS means ‘I love you’ in normal people talk.”  
Sokka hugged Toph tightly around her shoulders, and Toph returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Sokka’s waist. 

“Okay, go get your space sword. I’m hungry.”

Sokka pulled away from their hug. “Hi, Hungry. I’m…” he rushed to grab his sword and pulled it out of the log by what was left of the handle, “Space Sword Man!”

Toph and Sokka both laughed and Sokka put his free hand on Toph’s shoulder.

“You were right, Toph."

"You're going to have to be more specific."

"It _was_ worth it. Thank you, Toph. Really. I never thought I would see this sword again. It’s more than just a weapon. It’s a symbol."

“It’s a symbol of how you’ve grown. And someday this forest will grow back, too.”

Sokka took one last long look at the desecrated landscape. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I think it will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Toph's mention of the metal bending school is in reference to the events of "The Promise," the first of several runs of comics (of questionable cannonicity) that take place between ATLA and LoK.


End file.
